Books to read in the fall

Finding time to read in college is hard, but if there is a time to do it, it's autumn. The season is built for getting comfortable with an oversized sweater, a latte and a book to read. With the academic period rolling in and leaves hitting the ground, inspiration to find your next 5-star read is all around. Here are some novels with perfect fall vibes to add to your to-be-read list! 

“The Secret History” by Donna Tartt 

“The Secret History” by Donna Tartt, published in 1992, helped pioneer what we now call ‘dark academia.’ Tartt paved the way for ivy-covered brick walls, secret societies and pretentious liberal arts majors (in a fun way). 

The novel follows Richard Papen as he travels from California to Vermont to attend Hampden College. Shortly after beginning his studies, Richard meets a group of classics students and finds himself amongst them as they murder one of their classmates and recreate the Dionysian Mysteries from ancient Greece. 

The novel is a tale of social class, intellectualism and the illusion of the picturesque that all combine to create a lovely academic story with a perfect fall backdrop. 

“Carmilla” by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

“Carmilla” is a novella that was published in the 1800s and shaped how we view vampires today. 

The epistolary novella is told through the perspective of Laura, a lonely girl living with her father in what is now modern-day Turkey. She is visited by a peculiar woman named Carmilla, who has a suspiciously vampiric aura and begins to give our female protagonist a deep amount of affection. 

What is considered one of the earliest and most influential modern vampire stories, “Carmilla” features a female leading villain, queer themes and a deeply spooky and gothic atmosphere. 

“Normal People” by Sally Rooney 

If you are in the mood for a heartbreaking love story this autumn, Sally Rooney’s “Normal People” is perfect for you.  

“Normal People” follows Irish teenagers Connell Waldron and Marianne Sheridan from their years in Sixth Form to their experience at Trinity College. The pair’s unbreakable pull towards each other creates a heartbreaking and captivating love story. 

Rooney comments on intimacy, social class dynamics, identity and the power of love through these two characters who can’t seem to decide if they want to be with or without each other. 

“Bunny” by Mona Awad 

Another great novel for the fall season is “Bunny” by Mona Awad. 

This book is a surreal and dark trip into the lives of students in an elite New England MFA program, specifically scholarship student Samantha Heather Mackey and the Bunnies. 

What seems to be a group of hyper-feminine and affectionate friends who all have the same nickname for each other, Bunny, turns out to be a bizarre and grotesque cult-like group obsessed with turning their fictional romantic dreams into reality. 

Samantha must decide whether to submit to the Bunnies to fit in, and how much of herself she is willing to lose along the way. 

“If We Were Villains” by M.L. Rio 

Another dark academia novel perfect for the autumn: “If We Were Villains.”

This dark academia thriller follows a group of Shakespeare students after one of their classmates turns up dead.

Their onstage characters and real-life personas start to blend, creating a distressing plot. 

The novel's character work leaves readers unable to decide if they hate the characters, love them or want to be them.

Rio’s beautiful prose also creates a stunning work, leaving the reader unable to put the book down.